Forget the Plans, We'll Just Play It By EAR! (Sept 2013)

[TMGosizk]

WELCOME to my very first Trip Report! Within the pages of this report you'll find the thrilling tale of my family's latest trip to Walt Disney World...okay, maybe it won't be exactly “thrilling” but there's definitely a lot of fun and excitement to read about! So, I hope you'll join me as I recount all the magical moments of our trip!

I'll start by providing a little background for those who have not read the PTR for this trip. If you feel so inclined, my first PTR is here: Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'Till Morning..To Disney World!

Our Trip Dates Were:

September 17th to September 25th.

We Stayed At:

The Art of Animation Resort (one night) and The Contemporary (seven nights)

Our Travel Party Included:

These intros are pretty similar to the ones from the PTR.

First are my Hubby, John, and I. We are stationed in Illinois for at least the next six months. John is supposed to get his new assignment next month, so we're anxiously and nervously waiting to find out where we'll be living next year. We are both originally from a tiny, tiny town in Pennsylvania. We've known each other since we were four years old, were high school sweethearts, and were married August 2011, so we just celebrated our second anniversary!!

Two wedding pictures from our amazing photographer (Karey Dean!)

Our second anniversary picture!


John just turned 26 this August. He's the love of my life, my prince, my hero, and my best friend. He is an Intelligence Analyst in the Air Force and has been now for eight years. Two years ago, less than four months before our wedding, he returned from a two year tour in South Korea. He's very quick witted and has a fantastic sense of humor, loves playing video games, and loves cars, especially classic ones. His first trip to WDW was with my family when we went as my High School graduation present in July/August 2005! John is not AS obsessed with Disney as I am, but he's definitely getting closer.

"Driving" the monorail on his first trip in 2005!


I'm Toni-Marie, am 26, a teacher and have degrees in both Elementary and Special Ed. My most recent position was as a Kindergarten and First Grade Learning Support teacher and I loved it, but had to leave it in Pennsylvania when I moved to Illinois with John. Then I worked as an ABA therapist for students with Autism in Military Families until a month before our little one was born! Now, I'm a stay at home mom. I adore being at home with our daughter and am so lucky to have had the chance to do so. I'm pretty outgoing, and can be really silly sometimes, love to run, take pictures (as you'll see!), and all things Disney! My first trip to the World was at 2.5 years old and I've been hooked ever since!

From 2008


Next, is our little Princess, Laura. She will be 15 months in a few days. She has been a Disney fan since she was born (even if she doesn't realize it!)! Even the nursery is a Disney Princess theme!! Laura is the light of our lives and I couldn't imagine a day without her! She amazes us every single day! She has quite the personality and took her first steps a few days before our trip! She's quite talkative, I just wish we could figure out what she's saying! Haha! She adores anything Mickey or Minnie and has started appreciating many of the full length movies as well! Her favorite princess at the moment is Snow White!



She loves her Pluto!


Playing in her Minnie tent!


Also along for this trip was my amazing mom, Donna! She is the primary reason I am as obsessed as I am with all things Disney! It's because of her that we took our first family trip to WDW when I was 2 ½! It was also my dad's first visit! She's been to Disney many times, for the first time a few years before Epcot was opened. Mom is very creative, so fun to be around and loves the beach and any place warm. Mom is an ultrasound tech, but cannot wait for her retirement (this coming April) and a possible move to Florida! She was also my partner-in-crime when planning this trip!

This was our 2010 trip after dinner at The Wave!

My equally amazing dad, Steve was there, too! He has always enjoyed our vacations, but usually wishes we would pick somewhere a bit cooler. Haha! He hates the heat more than anything, but has truly loved our times together visiting WDW (even though a few of them occurred during the scorching July/August months!). He's very set in his ways, but has a truly goofy side that comes out a lot!! Dad's retired now and has been for quite a few years. He's an Air Force veteran and retired from managing at a company that makes airplane engines. Dad really enjoyed being there for Laura's first trip!

From our 2010 trip!

Last, but not least, is my baby sister, Brittany, but we all call her Buzzy. She just turned 23. She can be shy, but also has a very silly side, she loves to travel, and bake! Buzzy is also obsessed with all things Disney, and growing up we had a lot of fun helping Mom plan trips! Buzzy returned in August from Germany where she attended the International University of Applied Sciences. She has officially graduated and received her Bachelor's degree in Hospitality and Hotel and Restaurant Management. She already had an Associate Degree in Pastry and Bakery Arts and is probably one of the greatest pastry chefs I've ever met.

2010 trip!!

This trip was very different from any we've ever taken! It had it's truly wonderful, magical, amazing moments and it also had it's not-so-great moments....I'll share them all, because they are all what made this trip one of a kind! It was definitely memorable and we are already planning our next trip...I'll share info on that as it develops a bit more. Also I'll include some of our “everyday happenings” as I call them-they'll be breaks in the Disney action to let you in on what fun things are going on at the present!

So, pull up a chair, relax, and read along, as I share our trip with you!

 

[TMGosizk]

Day 1- Chapter 1: "I Usually Just Make Up the Words"
Day 1- Chapter 2: "But, I Booked This WHOLE Row!"
Day 1- Chapter 3: "Give Me Some...Fin?" (Part 1)
Day 1- Chapter 3: "Give Me Some...Fin?" (Part 2)
Day 1- Chapter 4: "The Brake Would Be Good Right About Now..Now?...NOW!"
Day 1- Chapter 5: "Today Has Felt Like a Week!"
Day 1- Chapter 6: "This Isn't Applesauce, It's Just a Sauce Made With Apples!"
Day 1- Chapter 7: "I'm So Sleepy, but I Want to See the Whole Thing!" (Part 1)
Day 1- Chapter 7: "I'm So Sleepy, but I Want to See the Whole Thing!" (Part 2)
Day 1- Chapter 7: "I'm So Sleepy, but I Want to See the Whole Thing!" (Part 3)

 

[KatMark]

Oooh...am I first?

I'm here and will go back now and read intros.

Okay; I'm back. Wonderful intros. Your Princess Laura is just beautiful...I love her eyes.

I can't wait to read all about it, Toni-Marie.

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[TMGosizk]

Oooh...am I first?

I'm here and will go back now and read intros.

**Yes, ma'am, you are first! Woohoo!! I'm so happy you're here to read along!

Okay; I'm back. Wonderful intros. Your Princess Laura is just beautiful...I love her eyes.

I can't wait to read all about it, Toni-Marie.

**Thank you so much Kathy! You're very sweet

Following along!

**Welcome, welcome! Thank you for reading along!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining! Your daughter is adorable!

Best of luck with regards to you next living location

 

[TMGosizk]

Joining! Your daughter is adorable!

**Welcome! Great to have you reading along!! And thank you

Best of luck with regards to you next living location

**Thanks! It's the waiting and wondering where we'll be that's the worst!!

 

[dismagiclover]

Joining in too.

 

[TMGosizk]

Joining in too.

**Wonderful! Welcome! Thank you for reading!!!!

--------

I'm working on an update right now, but am having some technical problems with my computer, so if not tonight, I will hopefully have it up by tomorrow night! (I wish the little emoticons could be posted from the iPhone DIS App--I'd put a "thumbs up!" here if that were possible!)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

 

[TMGosizk]

It is time! Time to officially start reporting on this trip!

Over the course of our trip, we all happened to say or do some very silly things, and they've become inspiration for some of my chapter titles! We ended up making a list of all these funny or silly things we wanted to remember during the trip and it became somewhat of a game to see who ended up with the most "silly moments" by the end! The title to this report is actually from one of the amusing quotes off that list! You'll find out the significance of that particular quote a couple days into the trip!

Alrighty, onward!

Chapter 1-"I Usually Just Make Up the Words"

Our story really starts the day before our Arrival Day.

It was September 16th, John had taken Leave so he could help with the final preparations before we left the next morning. We had to take Sadie, our two year old German Shepherd



to the Kennel that afternoon. It was the first time we had her boarded and I was so nervous dropping her off. But, it turned out that everyone there was wonderful and they instantly assuaged my fears. She did break my heart as I walked away from her and she whined and cried, though.

So, after leaving Sadie, I drove back home to an almost quiet house because Laura had not yet woken up from her afternoon nap-it was about 4:30pm at this point. John ran out to get our dinner and I prepared Laura's. I believe she had grilled chicken strips and tater tots! She woke up just in time for it to be done and John to get home with our's!

John and I had take out from Chick-Fil-A. It was good, quick, and left no dishes to be done before we left! So, it was a win in my book!

After dinner, we spent some time playing with Laura until it was her bath time! She had her before-bed cereal and went to sleep without any problems by 7:30pm!

Once she was down, John and I finished packing and getting last minute things together! We were done and relaxing on the couch by 10:00pm! This was a new record for me! I'm usually up packing much later.

All ready to go!


Now, you'd think that because we had to get up in the wee-hours of the morning, we'd both just go to bed. Well, first, I had to make one last post here on the DIS, of course! And, second, had to make sure the memory cards for my camera were all empty and that the pictures on them and those from my phone were safely saved onto my passport drive. This took an unexpectedly long time....and I didn't end up in bed until midnight.

As I was heading upstairs, John informed me that he'd just pull an all nighter instead of trying to sleep, since we had to leave in just a few hours...I tried talking him into taking a little nap, but he insisted he'd be fine.

I think I ended up getting maybe an hour and a half of sleep, if that. Lists kept running through my head and I just kept running over things that I needed to remember before we left! And, of course, I was SO excited!

The alarm rang loud and clear at 1:55am September 17th, and I was out of bed by 2:10am. I got ready, did my hair, put my cosmetic bag into my suitcase and came downstairs to get John moving.

While he was showering and getting dressed, I gathered all last minute items, and then went into Laura's room and encountered this peaceful picture:



I hate waking her up when she's sleeping so soundly, but we had a GREAT reason to this morning! She was a little disoriented being waken up, but she seemed to sense the excitement from John and I and was in a great, happy mood! We got her dressed and she was ready!



Now she's really ready with those sunglasses!


John loaded the truck, I made Laura a bottle to take on the way to the airport. By 3:30am we were on our way to St. Louis!

On the way, we listened to one of our Disney stations on Pandora and had fun singing along! When Circle of Life came on, John asked me what they were saying at the beginning when they chant in African. I told him I really didn't know and usually just made up words that sounded close. So we decided we needed to know and I pulled out my trusty iPhone and looked it up!

According to LionKing.org I found this, which I'll share with you, in case you've ever wondered exactly what they're chanting:

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba [Here comes a lion, Father]
Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Ingonyama

Siyo Nqoba [We're going to conquer]
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw' enamabala [A lion and a leopard come to this open place]

I do hope these are correct! While I was typing this up, I looked it up again and haven't found anything different, so if it's not right, I apologize!

Once we found the lyrics, John and I couldn't stop singing and trying to pronounce the African words correctly. Laura got a kick out of us chanting in African!

While singing along to Aladdin's "Friend Like Me" we crossed the bridge into the city!


With no traffic and Disney music to move us along, we were pulling into the airport a little after 4:00am. We did curbside check-in, which was so great because John didn't have to leave the truck parked in the "drop off" zone as long! Because John's active duty, he gets two checked bags free on Delta flights! We knew USAir had that policy, but had no idea Delta did, too! It's just really nice they do that!

We finished checking our bags and Laura and I were sitting inside waiting for John to get back from Long-Term Parking by 4:25am! So far, our day had started perfectly and we were ahead of our planned schedule!

Laura having a breakfast bar and watching for her Daddy!


After John got back we went through security-and can I say how awesome it was to not have to get six bottles of to-go instant formula tested! This was the first time I'd flown with Laura off formula, so we were through in about five minutes! It was wonderful!

We found our gate, I grabbed an iced latte for myself and some milk for Laura from Starbucks, to take on the plane with us. John had downed an energy drink on the drive, so opted out of anything to drink.

Here we are waiting to board! Laura's so excited!




Finally, it was time to board! We boarded during pre-boarding because we had Laura and were seated on the plane by 5:30am!

Happy, but sleeeeepy!


After sitting and waiting for other passengers to board, all the lights in the cabin went out....and then they came back on...and then half of them went out...and then one of the very nice stewardesses came to tell us we had to deplane because they were having electrical issues.

Uh oh...not a good sign. But, they had a mechanic on the way and they'd hopefully have it fixed soon!

Soooo, we went back up the Jetway and waited...they made about five announcements telling us they were going to try everything they could to get us in the air as close to schedule as possible and they would help with any connections that might be missed if we were delayed too long.

This made us a little nervous...if we landed on schedule we'd have about an hour and twenty minutes to get to our new gate in Atlanta, so we were really hoping we weren't delayed, tooooo much.

We need not have worried. About ten minutes after we de-planed, they told us they fixed the problem and we could re-board!

So, it was back on the plane we went!

The flight was practically empty, so we had three seats to ourselves, which was great! We spread out and settled in for the first leg of our trip!

Sitting at the gate


In no time at all we were taxiing out and on our way to Atlanta! We were back on schedule and taking off about 6:00am!

Taking off




This was it! This was Laura's first visit to Disney World and we were FINALLY on our way! It was two years of planning and working and dreaming toward this moment!!

It was surreal...

It was amazing...

It was MAGICAL-and we hadn't even seen the beautiful Florida landscape yet!

It didn't matter, because we were actually ON. OUR. WAY!

 

[KatMark]

I can't believe John stayed up all night and then didn't have any coffee.

Laura looks all ready to go and is absolutely adorable in her Minnie dress and sunglasses.

I'm so glad you didn't have a long delay, especially with a connecting flight.

I can't believe you are on your way.

 

[TMGosizk]

I can't believe John stayed up all night and then didn't have any coffee.

**I really can't believe it either, Kathy! He had that one energy drink on the drive and then no other caffeine the rest of the day! It was shocking!

Laura looks all ready to go and is absolutely adorable in her Minnie dress and sunglasses.

**Aw, thanks! She was SO ready to go even though she didn't really know what for!

I'm so glad you didn't have a long delay, especially with a connecting flight.

**Oh me tooooo! I've sprinted through Atlanta airport once before and really didn't want to have to do it again!

I can't believe you are on your way.

**It really was a weird feeling to ACTUALLY be going...and not just talking about going!

 

[TMGosizk]

Hello dear readers!

I want to get a short update posted tonight since I'm not sure I'll get much time to write this weekend and have had a busy, update-less week!

In fact this week has been the start of another new journey for all of us here because Laura started potty training!!

We figured we would just start sitting her on her new Minnie Mouse potty and let her get used to it...we'd take it slow...no rush, she's only 15 months! But, she's been showing signs that she could be ready, so we decided to try!

She has successfully used her potty FIVE times since Sunday! We are pleasantly surprised and really excited that she's taken to it so well! Still have a long way to go, but it's definitely a start!

Here she is checking out this strange new contraption Sunday morning:



Oh! It's Minnie!


Later in the day she was still interested


Success!


A lot of learning will be happening on the potty I think!


It's been a fun week!

And now, a short update:

Chapter 2: "But, I Booked this WHOLE Row!"

We had just taken off from St. Louis and were finally on our way to Atlanta! We had a very smooth, uneventful flight. Laura and Daddy played a bit.





And we discovered a funny image in the safety instruction pamphlet:



The lady in the first picture #4 looks like she's just jumping out of the plane into the air, as opposed to sliding down the inflated slide to the ground! We found it pretty amusing!

We landed in Atlanta six minutes before our originally scheduled arrival time!



It felt like no time at all and we were off the plane heading toward our next gate....and Mom, Dad, and Buzzy! They had arrived about half an hour before we did and were already waiting for us at the gate!

After a short walk from Concourse A to B, we reunited with Mom, Dad, and Buzzy! I can't even describe how great it was to see my parents and Buzzy! It had been seven months since we'd last seen her and, oh my, I'd missed her! Quite a few happy tears were shed!

We all hung out at the gate until our flight. Everyone was thrilled to see Laura!

Some pictures of our time in Atlanta:











John decided he was starving so he ran to grab something to eat before we were called for boarding. He was gone maybe two minutes and they were announcing it was time for pre-boarding. Somehow John made it back to the gate with his food before we were in line to board! We got on board and found our seats.

When we booked, we got seats right behind Mom, Dad, and Buzzy....We were in row 32 and they were in row 31 when we booked. Remember this because it comes into play later.

We decided that Dad and John would sit together in row 32 (John and my original seats) and then I'd sit in the row in front of them with Buzzy and Mom. This way John and Dad could sleep undisturbed if they chose to and the three of us girls could chat and play with Laura the whole flight!

John, Laura and I got settled and Laura checked out those safety instructions again while she waited for Grammy and Pappy and Aunt Buzzy!


The #4 lady doesn't look like she's just jumping out of the plane into thin air in this one!

Dad looking happy once he was seated!


Dad and John!


Laura was entertaining everyone she could see around us and we were all laughing and having a good time! Because we were so involved with each other, we didn't really take notice to much going on in the aisle as others were still boarding.

That is, until we heard a very loud, very annoyed voice coming from the seat area in front of our row saying “I booked this WHOLE row!”

It was one of those moments where no one's paying any attention, but then everyone tunes in at the same moment. We all just turned and looked at this woman who spoke to realize she was talking to us!

She was clearly royally ticked off!

Because we all were preoccupied, we just kind of stared at her at first, which made her even more annoyed. She continued pointing to the row of seats I was in and the one next to it saying over and over “I booked this WHOLE row!” She was very nearly yelling and making a bit of a scene. Her husband was trying to quietly solve the problem by telling her that this was not a big deal and to just sit in the row in front of Mom, Buzzy, and I, but she just kept yelling about how she “booked this WHOLE row!”

Her husband kept saying how sorry he was to everyone in the near vacinity and we could tell he was slightly embarrassed. The woman's mother, who was sitting in the row opposite us, was also trying to calm her down and tell her that it was okay if they sat a row ahead, but she didn't want to listen.

Now, had this lady nicely said something to us about the fact that there had been some mix-up and she thought we were sitting in the wrong row, things could have been less dramatic; however, that was not the case and I was instantly annoyed...we all were. But, I was determined to not let this become a huge issue, which I could see happening just by how things were already going. It was an easy fix and nothing to cause such a fuss over!

The problem was, she wouldn't let us speak. Everytime I tried to say something, she'd cut me off, so since her husband seemed to be the voice of reason here, I simply addressed him instead, saying that I'd check our boarding passes; which I did, and yes, they had moved my parents and Buzzy up a row to 30. Since we booked rows right next to each other, it just never dawned on us that they'd change.

We were in the wrong and I even said to the very kind man that if he wanted us to, and if it was truly important to them, then we'd move since we WERE wrong. He kept trying to assure me that it was fine and that he, his wife, and one of their sons (his other son and daughter were sitting with his mother in law across the aisle) would sit in row 30 so we didn't need to move.

His wife; however, was NOT having it. She wanted the three of us to get our bags from under the seat, collect Laura, and move the one row forward.

Once again, had she gone about it any other way, I would have been more willing to perhaps move, BUT she was just SO rude about it! Her husband and son were already in the row stowing their bags and accepting that they were sitting a row ahead of their assigned seats.

I apologized again, saying that it was just an oversight on our part and we'll move if they wanted us to, but that it would definitely be easier to just let it go at this point. The lovely man said again that they were fine and his mother in law and other two kids would be fine one row behind them, but his wife just kept grumbling.

Finally, after a little more coaxing from everyone in her family, the woman gave one last “but, I booked this WHOLE row” and sat down.

Honestly, we would have moved and been done with it all if she'd actually have let us speak. OR if her husband said it was necessary they sit directly across the aisle from his other three family members, but everyone else was fine with the accidental change and it made it easier on everyone to just stay put so problem solved.

The whole exchange took only about five or so minutes. Once it was over, we all couldn't help but laugh at how absolutely ridiculous it was to overreact the way that lady did. I wish I could have recorded it, because thinking back, it was like from a movie the way she kept yelling “but, I booked this WHOLE row! I can understand expecting seats to be open that you've booked and then finding they're taken when you board could definitely be a bit shocking and even annoying, BUT there's a better way to handle such a thing besides yelling so the whole plane can hear!

For the rest of the trip, one of our favorite things to say if we got split up on an attraction or something was “But, I booked this WHOLE row!” It just became a fun inside joke!

So, after our little seat confusion, we still had to wait for the rest of the passengers to board. This actually took quite a long time, or maybe it just felt that way since we were all so excited! Our flight was full...and as it always is from Atlanta, it was packed with excited families and people heading to Disney World! The energy inside the plane was amazing! You could feel the excitement and I always really enjoy this flight!

Before we knew it, we were taking off!



Perhaps we weren't heading straight on 'till morning, or even toward the second star to the right, but we were heading to the happiest place on Earth and it was wonderful!!

I promise the next update we will actually be IN Disney and it will have more pictures! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

 

[KatMark]

Toni-Marie, I felt myself wanting to get on that plane and just slap that woman. Seriously, talk about making a mountain out of a mole-hill. Unreal how some people can react to things.

I loved your family reunion pictures...you can see how much you were all excited to be together.

I love your sweet girl and her new Minnie potty. She'll be trained in no time!

 

[PrincessInOz]

But....but.....didn't you book that whole row? Seems like it was a row for her and a storm in a teacup for everyone else.





YAY!! You started. Subbing in.

 

[dtr_angel]

I thought I had subscribed to this when I saw your link last week but I guess I didn't - sorry!

Is Laura in cloth diapers? I know cloth babies tend to potty train quicker and easier. Everyone I know that cloth diapered had their babies potty trained by 22 months. Gavin is in cloth, so I guess if it's true then he will be potty trained before we go back to Disney in July.

I'm glad everything went smoothly! That lady is cracking me up.. I'm sure I will have "but I booked the whole row" in my head for a while LOL.

 

[TMGosizk]

Toni-Marie, I felt myself wanting to get on that plane and just slap that woman. Seriously, talk about making a mountain out of a mole-hill. Unreal how some people can react to things.

**Oh, Kathy, you're so right about how unreal people can be sometimes! A slap really was what she needed right then! Haha! I could never imagine reacting like that to something so easily fixed...especially in a crowded plane!

I loved your family reunion pictures...you can see how much you were all excited to be together.

**Thank you It was so wonderful to ALL be together again!

I love your sweet girl and her new Minnie potty. She'll be trained in no time!

**Aww, thank you! She really is doing better than we ever imagined for just starting out!!!

But....but.....didn't you book that whole row? Seems like it was a row for her and a storm in a teacup for everyone else.



** oh it was! I can't believe what a big deal she made!

YAY!! You started. Subbing in.

**Yay! So happy you're here!

I thought I had subscribed to this when I saw your link last week but I guess I didn't - sorry!

**No worries at all Glad you found it again!! Happy to have you reading along!!

Is Laura in cloth diapers? I know cloth babies tend to potty train quicker and easier. Everyone I know that cloth diapered had their babies potty trained by 22 months. Gavin is in cloth, so I guess if it's true then he will be potty trained before we go back to Disney in July.

**Wow! 22 months?!? That's awesome! Laura is not in cloth actually...hopefully she still trains quickly though! I never knew that about babies who are cloth diapered train easier! That's really interesting! Best of luck with potty training your Gavin (I love that name by the way!)! You'll have to let me know how it goes, I'm curious to see if he will follow the 22 month trend as well! How great would that be for your trip!! Are you doing a PTR for that trip? I'd love to read along if so!

I'm glad everything went smoothly! That lady is cracking me up.. I'm sure I will have "but I booked the whole row" in my head for a while LOL.

**Thanks! A smooth travel day is always a plus!! She was so ridiculous that it really was funny! I still laugh about it whenever it pops in my head, too!! Haha!

 

[dtr_angel]

**Aww, thank you! She really is doing better than we ever imagined for just starting out!!!




**Yay! So happy you're here!



**Thanks! A smooth travel day is always a plus!! She was so ridiculous that it really was funny! I still laugh about it whenever it pops in my head, too!! Haha!

Well I guess the pressure is on, lol. I am going to do a PTR, but right now everything is up in the air. I've started to do it a million times but if I would have, it would've been a hot mess as we keep changing our minds! We were going to APs and try to go three times within a year before Gavin turns 3 but now we just don't know... hoping to go back in July to celebrate his 2nd birthday but we're not sure again, ahhh. When we have some sort of a plan, I'll post the link!

 

[TMGosizk]

Well I guess the pressure is on, lol. I am going to do a PTR, but right now everything is up in the air. I've started to do it a million times but if I would have, it would've been a hot mess as we keep changing our minds! We were going to APs and try to go three times within a year before Gavin turns 3 but now we just don't know... hoping to go back in July to celebrate his 2nd birthday but we're not sure again, ahhh. When we have some sort of a plan, I'll post the link!

I can certainly understand the changing of your mind a million times! I think its just part of the Disney planning beast! So, definitely no pressure! haha!

I did find your current TR, which I subscribed to last night, but haven't had a chance to read through yet! As soon as I do, I'll post over there, too!

 

[TMGosizk]

Chapter 3- "Give Me Some...Fin?" (Part 1)

I last left you in the air, somewhere between Atlanta and Orlando. We had another smooth flight and before we knew it, we were looking down at this:



We were able to see Magic Kingdom, the Monorail Resorts, and Epcot from the plane, but I could not get a good picture because of all the clouds! Everyone was incredibly excited to get our first glimpse of Disney!

We landed a short time later and Grammy and Laura were pretty darn excited!

Mom's asking Laura if she's ready to go meet Mickey Mouse!


As we made the very long taxi to our gate, the lovely man in front of me (same guy from the earlier seat confusion) struck up a conversation with Mom and I about our trips to Disney. He was just SO nice! We were having a great conversation with him, but apparently, this poor man was not able to have a conversation on his own, because his less-than-lovely wife HAD to put her two cents into every. single. thing. he. said.

We were doing our best to only talk to him, but she just kept talking over him. I asked what resort they were staying at this trip and he said Wilderness Lodge. Since this is a resort I've always loved and would LOVE to stay a night or two there, I told him I was a little jealous. He asked where we were staying and I told him we were doing a night at Art of Animation and then seven nights at Contemporary.

His wife chimed in Oh, you're staying at the Contemporary? Hmm, that's just not OUR thing...

Mom said, well, we like it, so we stay there.

To which the lady responded Well, we're from Kansas, so we like the Wilderness Lodge.

We spent some time later that day trying to figure out what being from Kansas had to do with staying at Wilderness Lodge instead of the Contemporary

I then tried to turn the conversation back to her husband, since he was saying he doesn't think he's ever actually been IN the Contemporary and she kept saying he had and he didn't like it. She wouldn't let him get a word in...again. Sadly, that was the end of our nice conversation with that kind man. They were still arguing about whether or not he'd been in the Contemporary as they got off the plane. That poor man...

Thankfully, it was our last encounter with that not-so-plesant lady!

We made our way off the plane and into the terminal! Laura needed a diaper change, so we stopped at the bathrooms and did that.

Once everyone was good to go, we made our way to the Disney-monorail-wanna-be.

John and Buzzy leading the pack!


Beautiful sight, those palm trees!


Laura and I


At the end of our short ride, we headed off toward the loading area for Disney's Magical Express!

This was the first time any of us had ever taken the Magical Express, so it was a whole new experience walking up to those Magical podiums!



We were asked if we wanted to use our bands, but we didn't have them for our stay at Art of Animation, so we used the voucher instead. After our voucher was scanned, we were told to go here:


Silliness!


We waited about twenty minutes for the right bus! While in line, Pappy got some one-on-one time with Miss Laura. He was in paradise!


Finally, our chariot arrived!


We were ushered out to the bus, had our carryons and stroller loaded, and then boarded and found seats. Unfortunately, we had to sit pretty far back in the bus, and I knew from reading here on the boards this was not such a good place to get a picture of that glorious Welcome arch, but at that moment, it didn't matter! We were all just so happy to be sitting on the bus!

You can see from this picture just how far back we were!


Before we knew it, the driver had confirmed everyone was on the correct bus and we were ready to get moving!

While the movie was working, the sound was not. It was so low we could barely hear it at times, but it was still fun to watch and there were captions to read! John was practically glued to it and kept asking questions about things he was seeing and places he wanted to go, etc.! Even though he'd been to Disney once before, eight years is a long time to go between visits! So much had changed from the last time he was there with us!

On the bus!






A few minutes after leaving the Airport, Miss Laura fell asleep on her Grammy's lap and got in a decent little nap on our way to the resort!



We passed under that wonderful Welcome Arch, but even though I tried to get a picture, I couldn't get a good one. I did however, get this one:



It's not the same as the arch, but it'll do!

Not much time later, we had arrived at our first resort!



This resort is quite a sight to pull up to! It's visually stunning! I was in awe!



Front door into Animation Hall!


Laura woke up just in time for us to get off the bus and she was so happy!!

We were greeted by three different people within our first ten steps off the bus! They all requested we give them some fin, so we gave some fin-which really confused Dad. He didn't understand why we were tapping elbows with people! We explained to him it was a Finding Nemo reference!

Laura also received her first, First Visit pin!



She was obsessed with this pin! It was her new favorite toy...for the time being anyway. We were very mindful of her with it though since it was a pin after all.

We gathered the stroller and carryons and made our way onward!

Continued in Next Post...